Common Search Engine Terms

Tone2k11

Proficient

Posts: 493

Loc: Southampton - UK

3+ Months Ago

Use this post as a reference if you do not understand any of the abbreviations used in the posts that are in this forum. Some of the definitions contain links to posts and other resources that will give you more information. If you would like me to add anything to this post then PM me and I will try my best to add it in. Some might seem a little obvious but if you have not heard of them before how are you expected to know what they mean?

Anchor Text - Anchor text is the name you give your link. If i was to link to ozzu i would say "Ozzu Webmaster Forum " The "Ozzu Webmaster Forum" is the anchor text of the link. The anchor text should contain your main targeted keywords.

SERP - Search Engine Results Page. The page or pages that a search engine displays after a search query for a certain search term or phrase.

SEO - acronym for “search engine optimisation”. Search engine optimisation is a process of crafting a site's content so that the site gets high rankings in the various search engines (both the site and individual pages), and includes tailoring on-page text (such as headlines and subtitles) as well as choosing the proper keywords for a page's meta tags.

Google Dance - The name "Google Dance" has often been used to describe the index update of the Google search engine. Google's index update occurred on average once per month. During an index update there was significant movement in search results and Google showed new backward links for pages. However, in mid-2003 Google started to update it's index continuously. It appears that, still, there has to be an update of the complete index once in a while and during this time new backward links are shown. But, because of the continuous update, the effects on search results seem to be rather insignificant. More info can be found HERE

Back links – Back links are simply the term used when discussing other sites that link to your website. To find your website's back links use the following syntax in the search box of your favourite search engine: link:http://www.yoursiteurl.com

Out going links – Outgoing links are links that you have on your website that link to another site. So if I placed a link on my website to http://www.ozzu.com, that would be a outgoing link.

DMOZ – DMOZ is a open directory project. When you submit your site to DMOZ you will have to wait anywhere from 1 week to 5 months (or longer) for it to get approved by a editor. Getting listed on DMOZ can increase the traffic to your site and improve your page rank (this depends on the page rank of the category that you are in and I linking to you.

PR - PR (PageRank) relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

Meta Tags – A meta tag is an element of HTML that often describes the contents of a Web page, and is placed near the beginning of the page's source code. Search engines use information provided in a meta tags to index pages by subject.

Indexed – If you website has been indexed then that means that it will show up in the search results. A good way to see if your site has been indexed is to type “url: http://www.yourdomain.ext” The pages that show up in your results have been indexed.

Alt Text – If you do a link exchange with someone then it is recommended by all the webmasters that you add alt text to your link. Alt text is the text that appears in a box when you put your mouse over it. Search engines can read this text.

Spider – A software program that "crawls" the Web, searching and indexing Web pages to create a database that can be easily searched by a search engine.

Googlebot – Please visit http://www.google.com/bot.html for more information on what the googlebot is.

Keyword Density – A property of the text in a web page which indicates how close together the keywords appear. Some search engines use this property for Positioning. Analysers are available which allow comparisons between pages. Pages can then be produced with the similar keyword densities to those found in high ranking pages.

Robots.txt – Click the link for a tutorial on robots.txt http://www.searchengineworld.com/robots ... torial.htm

A search engine technology that queries other search engines with organic results (Google, yahoo, MSN, Askjeeves) and then combines the results that are received from all. In effect, the user is not using just one search engine but a combination of many search engines at once for optimized Web searching.

Nice community btw

weblaunchphxx

Graduate

Posts: 143

3+ Months Ago

mumtaz ali wrote:

WHAT IS BLACK AND WHITE HAT SEO?

White Hat Black Hat
My own definition of "White Hat" broadly (but not entirely) reflects the almost-consensus within "White Hat" Internet forums My definition of "Black Hat" is entirely personal, as I have been unable to find any measure of consensus among the "Black Hat" community.
White Hats take an ethical approach: considering all the Internet stakeholders, not just the self and the client.
Black Hats work in the clients' interest, plus protecting and promoting self.

White Hats do not accept 'shades of grey' - SEO is clean and honest. Or not. Black Hat is a term of convenience for anyone who is not 'White Hat'.
Black Hats insist on grey hats, and deny the existence of Black or White. Very, very few admit to owning a Black Hat, though many boast of their achievements. Go figure.

White Hats make no attempt to deceive search engines; what you see is what you get.
Black Hats would be prepared, willing and happy to deceive search engines (and thus search engine users) in client's interest.

White Hats favour honesty with client about techniques, risks, rewards.
Black Hats may be willing to deceive the client about methods: "results are all".

White Hats see search engines as friends; you want their help, you adhere to their guidelines; a simple trade off.
Black Hats see search engines as the enemy; deceit is the name of the game, SEs are constantly looking to expose trickery and penalize guilty sites.

White Hats see on-site measures as helping visitors, as well as SEs; a better site self-SEOs, plus converts more customers, and gets repeat visits.
Black Hats emphasize off-site methods, getting 'bums on seats', with the hope that a percentage will convert, or at least return by another route.

White Hats emphasize the long term nature of successful SEO; inexorable progress, without looking over the shoulder.
Black Hats emphasize rapid results, accept risks, confident of a new fix, as older tricks are neutralized.

White Hats understand that 'Black Hat' success must harm sites displaced by spam sites, and therefore is potentially illegal.
Black Hats boast of income, but do not concede that this is arguably defrauded from displaced better sites, and deny potential illegality. They will not even discuss it.

White Hats believe that if 'Black Hats' used their skills and experience honestly, they'd probably be more successful than constantly rethinking strategy.
Black Hats believe that 'White Hats' all secretly use 'Black Hat' techniques, and are all 'holier than thou' hypocrites.

White Hats condemn those who support, conceal, or apologize for Black Hats, who harm the industry.
Black Hats believe in the survival of the fittest, and have no time for wimps.

For White Hats, it's all about intention.
For Black Hats, it's all about technique

Surely there's been enough development in the last year to unlock this sticky and prune the fluff for.

So, what's new ?

Todd Charske

Beginner

Posts: 52

Loc: Todd Charske - Sales

3+ Months Ago

So what's the real deal with the last forum I read that said the whole SEO is dieing? Does all this matter?

- Todd Charske

joebert

Fart Bubbles

Posts: 13506

Loc: Florida

3+ Months Ago

Todd Charske wrote:

So what's the real deal with the last forum I read that said the whole SEO is dieing? Does all this matter?

- Todd Charske

That's what we should be looking to find out.

Jenie0109

Proficient

Posts: 408

3+ Months Ago

I also saw that. SEO will be here to stay forever. It will never die.

spork

Brewmaster

Posts: 6265

Loc: Seattle, WA

3+ Months Ago

Jenie0109 wrote:

I also saw that. SEO will be here to stay forever. It will never die.

Why do you say that?

karmadir

Graduate

Posts: 103

Loc: India

3+ Months Ago

It seems like search engine optimization dictionary here.

mit

Proficient

Posts: 310

Loc: INDIA

3+ Months Ago

Nice sharing. You can get some more here at this SEO glossary.

anupam007guy

Born

Posts: 3

3+ Months Ago

i m always learning something on OZZU>>

CarlosWilliamson

Born

Posts: 2

3+ Months Ago

hi

So what's the real deal with the last forum I read that said the whole SEO is dieing? Does all this matter?

- Todd Charske

CarlosWilliamson

Born

Posts: 2

3+ Months Ago

I like it but it is not my main career. My main business is insurance related but because I am able to make an excellent income working from home, I had to become an SEO expert. I do take on other clients and do SEO stuff for them but only if they are not in my same industry!